19 October 2017, Writing - part
x286, Novel Form, Dénouement and Tension
Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher
has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy. I'll keep you
informed. More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy
them.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.
This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in
installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in
addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel
was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and
tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this
blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I'm using this novel as an example
of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll
keep you informed along the way.
Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my
writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production
schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
The four plus one basic rules I
employ when writing:
1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the
writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage
of the novel.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
These are the steps I use to write a
novel including the five discrete parts of a novel:
1.
Design the initial scene
2.
Develop a theme statement (initial
setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)
a.
Research as required
b.
Develop the initial setting
c.
Develop the characters
d.
Identify the telic flaw (internal
and external)
3.
Write the initial scene (identify
the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)
4.
Write the next scene(s) to the
climax (rising action)
5.
Write the climax scene
6.
Write the falling action scene(s)
7.
Write the dénouement scene
I
finished writing my 28th novel, working title, School, potential
title Deirdre: Enchantment and the School. The theme statement is: Sorcha, the abandoned
child of an Unseelie and a human, secretly attends Wycombe Abbey girls’ school
where she meets the problem child Deirdre and is redeemed.
Here is the cover proposal for Deirdre:
Enchantment and the School.
 |
|
Cover
Proposal
|
The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I continued writing my 29th novel, working title Red Sonja. I finished my 28th novel, working
title School. If you noticed, I started on number 28, but
finished number 29 (in the starting sequence—it’s actually higher than
that). I adjusted the numbering. I do keep everything clear in my
records.
How to begin a novel. Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement. Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement. Here is an initial cut.
For novel 29: Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the
X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk, learns
about freedom, and is redeemed.
This
is the classical form for writing a successful novel:
1.
Design the initial scene
2.
Develop a theme statement (initial
setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)
a.
Research as required
b.
Develop the initial setting
c.
Develop the characters (protagonist,
antagonist, and optionally the protagonist’s helper)
d.
Identify the telic flaw of the
protagonist (internal and external)
3.
Write the initial scene (identify
the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)
4.
Write the next scene(s) to the
climax (rising action)
5.
Write the climax scene
6.
Write the falling action scene(s)
7.
Write the dénouement scene
The
protagonist and the telic flaw are tied permanently together. The novel plot is completely dependent on the
protagonist and the protagonist’s telic flaw.
They are inseparable. This is
likely the most critical concept about any normal (classical) form novel.
Here
are the parts of a normal (classical) novel:
1.
The Initial scene (identify the
output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)
2.
The Rising action scenes
3.
The Climax scene
4.
The Falling action scene(s)
5.
The Dénouement scene
So,
how do you write a rich and powerful initial scene? Let’s start from a theme statement. Here is an example from my latest novel:
The
theme statement for Deirdre: Enchantment
and the School is: Sorcha, the abandoned child of an Unseelie and a human,
secretly attends Wycombe Abbey girls’ school where she meets the problem child
Deirdre and is redeemed.
Here
is the scene development outline:
1.
Scene input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)
2.
Write the scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)
3.
Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and
develop the tension and release.
4.
Write the scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.
5.
Write the release
6.
Write the kicker
If
you have the characters (protagonist, protagonist’s helper, and antagonist),
the initial setting, the telic flaw (from the protagonist), a plot idea, the
theme action, then you are ready to write the initial scene. I would state that since you have a
protagonist, the telic flaw, a plot idea, and the theme action, you have about
everything—what you might be lacking is the tension and release cycle in your scenes.
Here is an example of developing or
building tension and release in a scene.
This example is from Shadow of
Darkness an Ancient Light novel. The falling action of this novel is very
short, and the dénouement is more than one scene. This is a little unusual, but not that
unusual. In my outline for a novel, I’m
specific that the falling action is usually one or more scenes, and the dénouement
is one scene. This is not always
true.
What you can depend on is that the
initial scene is a single scene. The rising
action must be multiple scenes. The climax
will always be a single scene. The
falling action will be at least a scene.
The dénouement will be at least a scene.
Every novel will have a dénouement. This is the “getting the characters off the
stage of the novel” scene. This is
literally where the author wraps up the novel, cleans up any loose ends, and
hustles the characters off the stage. I
also recommend a kicker of some type at the end.
Perhaps the kicker of most novels is
not as well remembered as the initial sentence or paragraph, but in my mind,
this is the last opportunity the author has to touch the reader’s heart and
soul. In my mind, the dénouement and the
kicker of the dénouement are where the author concludes the novel.
I want to be very specific about
this. I’ve written about the dénouement
before. This isn’t a time for
moralizing. This isn’t a time to wax eloquent. The dénouement is the time to wrap up the
novel. With this in mind, this is the
opportunity to bring together all the main ideas and forces in the novel in an
entertaining and exciting way. Let’s
also be clear, the dénouement is not a postscript. The dénouement is a part and portion of the
novel. It can tell the end results about
the characters future lives, but it doesn’t need to. The dénouement simple and elegantly closes
the novel.
Here is the scene:
Goodberry brought the afternoon mail to
Mrs. Marie Bolang Hastings. Marie rocked
little Leora gently on her lap and hoped she wasn’t ready to feed again. Her husband George Hastings, the heir to the Hastings
Marie parsed the day’s letters and came
to a peculiar one. This letter was from America and had a New York New
York
Marie Norton Whitney Harriman
23 September 1953
Dear Marie Hastings
I
was so happy to hear about your marriage to that fine young officer we met in London Washington
I
know you were very interested in the Russian woman named Svetlana Evgenyevna
Kopylova. By odd coincidence, my husband
heard her name mentioned during a Senate hearing and looked into the
issue. Apparently, Ms. Kopylova defected
to the United States Russia United
States or return her to the Soviet
Union .
Everything
is going well here. Averell is
contemplating a run for the Governorship of New York. Please come see me if you are in the states.
Your
Friend,
Marie
Harriman
Marie sat up abruptly, and almost
dropped little Leora. Leora gave a
squawk and Marie gently lifted her against her shoulder.
George Hastings and Paul popped their
heads above the newspaper, “What’s wrong Marie?”
“George, please George. I have to call my mother.”
George stared at his wristwatch,
“Goodness, Marie, it’s the break of day in the states, and it’s not our usual
day to call.”
“I know George, I know it’s very
expensive, but please, I must speak to her now.
She’ll be awake.”
George looked at little Paul, “Paul
should we let mama speak on the phone to grandmamma?”
In his clear but typically childish
voice, Paul smirked, “Yes, papa, but only if we can speak to Colonel Grandpapa
too.”
“There you heard the word, Marie.”
She scowled at them both, “Goodberry,
Goodberry.”
Goodberry came around the corner at a
run, “Yes, my lady.”
“Please, Goodberry, could you get the
operator to ring my mother. You know the
number.”
“Yes, my lady.”
They had a wait for the connections, but
in a few moments Goodberry brought the phone while it was still ringing.
Leora Bolang picked up the phone on the
other end, “Bolang.”
“Mama,” exclaimed Marie, “Mama, I’ve
found Lumière.” She paused, “Mama? Did you hear me?”
There was silence on the other end of
the phone. Then a voice suddenly very
weary came across it, “Marie, Lumière is dead.
She died a long time ago in Berlin
“She isn’t dead, mama.” With enormous guilt in her heart Marie cried,
“Mama, Uncle Bruce found her in Russia
Marie could hear her mother’s tears over
the phone line, “But, Marie, how do you know it’s Lumière?”
“I have a picture, and Uncle Bruce had a
packet of intelligence information he showed Aunt Tilly and me. Lumière has been in the Soviet
Union as a highly placed person in their government. He didn’t want me to tell you because
anything we did could have exposed and hurt her.”
“Then Uncle Bruce was right. She is lost to us, Marie.”
“But she isn’t lost. She escaped.
My friend Marie Harriman sent me a letter. Lumière is being tried—not tried
exactly. She has a hearing at the State
Department on October fourth. They will
decide whether to allow her to stay in the United
States or send her back to the Soviet
Union . Mama, we can’t let
that happen.”
“Marie, are you absolutely certain this
person is Lumière?”
“Mother I would never call you with
something this important if I didn’t know it was true.”
“Marie…”
“Her name is Svetlana Evgenyevna
Kopylova. She was a translator for
Stalin. I have her photograph—she looks
exactly like Lumière. I’ll be traveling
as soon as I can.” Marie hung up the
phone.
Paul pouted, “You didn’t let us speak to
Colonel Grandpapa.”
Marie kissed his cheek, “You will see
them both soon enough. George, we must go
to America
“I was listening to everything. This is very short notice, Marie, but for the
sake of your sister, I think if I talk to Bruce Lyons, I can make it a business
trip.”
“Can we get there by the fourth?”
“By plane, but the arrangements might be
tight.”
If
you have been following along, you know at that Marie has known about Sveta for
a long time—for at least four years. She
didn’t tell her mother or father because of the potential international and
familial consequences. Now that Sveta or
more correctly Lumière has escaped from the Soviet Union, there is no reason to
keep this secret.
At
this point everything from the beginning of the novel is coming to
fruition. If you remember, Lumière (Sveta)
believed she had lost her family’s confidence or even worse, she had betrayed their
ethical and moral ideals. In point of
fact, she is a person of great power and great moral fiber. She succeeded where many others would
fail.
In
this scene, we see the setup for the final obvious confrontation. The expected but unexpected, and we are well
past the climax.
As
an aside, I would like to point out that the climax was just this expected but
unexpected result or resolution. The expectation
for the reader was there could be no resolution for Sveta—she was tied to the
Soviet State in a way that she could never escape. Then came the death of Stalin and the
realization that she had to escape. The
reader could then picture the escape, but the scnee was not necessarily
expected. At the same time, all the elements
and foreshadowing in the novel came together in a way that one might be able to
conclude, in retrospect, that’s the way it should have ended—the unexpected,
expected resolution of the telic flaw.
I’ll
give you more examples.
More
tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my
author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline,
character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing,
information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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